Let's Party!

This morning I took some cupcakes to Acadia's class.  That was fun and a nice break for them, though I think it took time they really needed to finish a project and I heard that they had to miss recess in order to get it done!  It was an art project and they were having fun, so I don't think they minded.  Here are a couple pictures from the classroom:





This afternoon we had Cadi's party. Wow. Okay, so first of all, EVERYONE we invited came! Which was great - but surprising. Then all the moms came to pick up the kids on time!!! Wow, that never happens! And this was wonderful because Ryan was not able to come home at all so I was flying solo with 9 very excited and very sugar filled kids! But it went really well. I did get some pictures, but no video - it was just too hard since I was alone.

Here are a couple pictures from right before the guests came...





When each guest arrived, Acadia gave them a lei and said, "Aloha". They loved it! One of the first things we did was vote for best Luau dressed. The winner was... Hazel!



Here's the rest of the bunch, all except Rebecca who arrived half-way through the party.



After taking a couple of pictures (I printed up the one of Hazel and Acadia and put it in a very cute picture frame shaped like a sandal, for her to take home as her prize.), we made Hawaiian cookies. Actually, they were just sugar cookies, frosted, then topped with fruit. They had strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple tidbits.



Then we played Limbo. Unfortunately there are no pictures. I had to man the limbo pole so my hands were full. But I do have a picture of Acadia opening her gifts...



Cadi got lots of nice presents. It seemed the theme was mostly diaries and journaling. She also got a great little toy (so she says - lol) that she had told me about but I had no idea what she was talking about. I'm so glad her friend got it for her instead because Acadia did really want it. It is a FurReal Friend. Her's is a panda bear. The thing sleeps, eats, cries - and thankfully has an off button!

After the presents it was cake time!







After eating cake and ice cream, we played Luau Bingo. I had stayed up last night stamping bingo cards and it ended up being rather fun.



As her guests left, Acadia gave them thank you gifts and told them "Aloha" again. Except the first one got an "Hola" instead and several got "Aloha, amigo" - lol. Since Ryan wasn't here, I saved her gifts from us for when he would get home. But it turns out he has to stay late, so I let her open our presents this evening.





She loved this one! It was Kim Possible playset. It had Kim, Ron, and Rufus plus 30 accessories to have 3 different adventures. Really cute and she's been playing with it ever since!

Here is Cadi sporting her new Princess hat...





That was it! We had fun! And I managed to keep the place fairly picked up throughout the whole thing! I posted most the pictures here, but there are a couple more, check out the rest of the pictures on our photobucket album.

Happy Birthday, Acadia!

Six years ago today...

I became a mom.

Ryan and I had been married for two years and were living in Pocatello, ID when we found out we were going to be parents. We were both excited. This was definitely planned and we couldn't be happier. Of course, it wasn't long before my excitment was toned down a bit by my 24-hour a day "morning" sickness. But still, we anxiously prepared to welcome our baby.

From the very first day, I had names chosen. We would name him Nathaniel Ryan, if it was a boy. And Kalynn Belle, if it were a girl. However, neither of these names belonged to the little person growing inside my belly. On the morning of our ultrasound, where we would learn (hopefully) if we should paint pink or blue, as I showered I heard the words, "Her name is Acadia Belle". My first thought was, "Yeah, it's a girl!!!"
I asked Ryan how he liked the name, he loved it! We had honeymooned at Acadia National Park and it seemed fitting for the start of our family to be named after the place we celebrated as we started our marriage. So, Acadia Belle it was.

The pregnancy was quite normal, but at 39 weeks, 3 days I became HyperTensive so the doctor decided to induce me. Now, I had planned on demanding to be induced at this appointment, however as soon as my doctor told me it was going to happen, I started to get nervous. All of a sudden it was going to happen. I was going to have my baby.

We scheduled the delivery for the next morning, called my mom and I went home and cried to my best friend. Ryan and a good friend gave me a blessing that did bring comfort, even though he left out the key words: "quick" and "painless". The next morning the hospital was full of moms having babies so we waited one more day. This ended up being great because then my mom was able to arrive before the delivery instead of during or after.

D-day began as a bright beautiful morning. We casually loaded the car, took home video, made jokes, and meandered on over to the hospital. (There are benefits of not actually being in labor while going to the hospital!) I was nervous, but trying so hard not to be. Breath in, breath out...

I had a great room. It was large and had a nice window. I was alone with just Ryan and my mom most of the time. We learned that I had progressed to develop Pre-Eclampsia. Fortunately for me, I was already full-term AND already at the hospital to be induced. But there was still precautions they needed to take for my safety and the safety of my baby. I was put on medication which resulted in my having to stay in bed the entire labor and delivery until about a day after the birth. But the upside was that I got to stay in that birthing room way longer than women are normally allowed and then got my own personal room at the far end of a hall for the rest of my stay. (I was a bit pampered - and I loved it!)

The remainder of the labor and delivery were actually wonderful - if you can believe it! Three words - "I LOVE DRUGS"!!! The epidural(s) were wonderful - and absolutely perfect. I felt little pain, but plenty of pressure and this was very good. The labor was not long. I believe I was induced at about 8:30 am and we began pushing around 2:20 pm. After just a short delivery, Acadia Belle was born at 2:46 pm.



She was 20 3/4 inches long and weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. And in her father's words, she was "precious".
We stayed at the hospital a day longer than normal because of the Pre-Eclampsia, however fortunately both Acadia and I were quite healthy and had no more complications.

Here is a picture of Acadia in my mom's lap (2 weeks old) and then another picture taken at the portrait studio (also 2 weeks old)...





And here we are 6 years later! Acadia has grown into a beautiful, bright girl. She is imaginative, eager to learn, passionate, and loving. She is a joy. I feel so blessed to be her mom. Especially after having a couple of miscarriages, I realize just how much of a blessing she is to me.















Happy Birthday, Acadia! I love you!!!

As Promised

So as I said before, we had a nice visit in Reno.  When we got in on Friday we just spent the evening visiting...

Are you ready?  I've got a ton of pictures!  But I won't share ALL of them, I'll give you the link to see the rest at the end of this post...


Ryan's dad, Bill and brother, Rance.


We had a bit of a monkey problem.


I don't know, what about you - Do you think the girls were happy to be together?

Saturday was a free fishing day for kids all over Reno. So the guys took the kids out fishing. No one caught any fish, but they had fun...




Uncle Ryan and little Riley.

Next we all went on a hike...




William and Megan climbing on some cool rocks.

Unfortunately I did not get to finish the hike. Due to the elevation and my recent miscarriage, I almost fainted about half-way up. So Ryan and I stopped while everyone else went on ahead. And there is where this adventure got interesting.

We had all been in one group. After they went on ahead, Will and Jessica pulled away leaving the rest a bit behind them. At some point, the trail splits. You guessed it, they each took a different path. When Will and Jess came back down to where we were, no one had seen the other group so Ryan went up to find them while the rest of us went back down to the cars. Ryan successfully found the others and they started back. At some point, Megan was given permission to run ahead so she could get to the "little girls room" quickly. She actually beat Jess, Will, and I because we stopped by a pond on the way down. As we waited with Megan at the bottom we started to wonder exactly how long the rest of the group was going to take to get down. After a period of time and with the help of some partial cell phone conversations, we realized that the guys and young kids had taken a wrong turn. They ended up WAY off course and for some reason thought the best thing would be to get off the trail for a "short cut". Did I mention that at this time it was the guys leading? Yeah, us women were safely back at the cars, because we STAYED ON THE PATH and didn't take any wrong turns! Uh, back to the story. They end up on a highway and followed the roads back to where we were. So after an hour or two we were all back together, safe and sound. The real lucky thing for everyone is that when Megan went ahead ALONE, she did not take any wrong turns and avoided getting lost by herself.

After that adventure, we were't quite done so we went to a ward barbeque at a park...








Riley loved it when Ryan would play with her. She was so cute!!!

At one point Ryan and his brother were playing catch. I got Julie and Cadi to come with me to sneak up on Ryan and tackle him...




Then the girls decided to get Rance.


Ryan couldn't pass up a chance to get in on the action.


Before long we had one big pile of wrestling bodies.

You may think this was one very full day. And yes it was, but we STILL weren't done... We then took the kids to the drive-ins to see Madagascar. We tried out the back of our new minivan, folded down the back seat and sat/laid with pillows and blankets while we watched the movie. But sorry, no pictures.

Sunday morning we all got ready to go our different ways...


Here are the "Twin Cousins" again.


Grandpa with the Reno kids.

Here are a couple of interesting pictures. It's Rance, Ryan, and Bill, with William in front...





The Reno Rosers went to church and we took Ryan's dad to the airport. Then we headed down to Sacramento.

First we stopped by my best friend, Heather's house. She took us to see the house they are having built. It will be very nice. We did get a couple pictures of us while visiting, but you'll have to find them on the link below.

After they were done with church, we went to visit the Robarts and Hinds...




Esther was a cutie!

We took a walk over to see Ruth and Tom's new house that they will be moving into at the end of the month.




Uncle Joe gives Esther an fun ride.

We spent Monday with Ryan's mom. First we went to the zoo...


Miss Cadi Muffet


Here Farl, Ryan, and Acadia are seeing what a bug's view is like. Do you wanna see too? Just look through this...








Measuring our "wing span".


Cadi with Grandma Grundy.

That evening we went to a RiverCats game (Sacramento's minor league baseball team).


It was fun. We played LasVegas and won. During the game, Dinger came over to our section and had a seat right behind us...



We loaded up on Tuesday morning, made good time and got home at a decent hour. And that was our trip! Also as promised, here are the rest of the pictures.